Blair backs Mali intervention
Tony Blair has warned of the danger of not intervening in Mali, saying that a lack of action would result in extremism spreading to "the shores of Europe".
The former prime minister said that Mali was at risk of becoming a terrorist state.
"If we don’t intervene in Mali, we shouldn’t for a moment think Mali will stay a problem for Mali," he told Sky News' Boulton and Co.
"If Mali is allowed to be taken over by these people, don’t be under any doubt what will happen. That country will become a haven of extremism... It will, in the end, come to the shores of Europe and the West."
Writing in The Sun today, Mr Blair has backed David Cameron's stand against al-Qaeda in North Africa.
He wrote that the Algeria hostage crisis was a reminder that "the threat from violent extremism has not gone away". He also argued that the fight against terrorism is "a battle we cannot shirk" and warned that there will be more tragedies.